Hop Trellis Design - Advice requested

[idzy]

Hi Guys,

As the hop season is drawing to a close, I am starting to think about next season. I haven't grown hops before, but feel I have a good place to plant the rhizomes.

The area that I am thinking is an area that is about 2 metres wide at the back of a tennis court. The tennis court fence is quite high and at each end of the fence it has light poles that are probably about 8-10 metres high.

I was thinking I could run a cable from one tennis court light to the other and run some reinforcing cables so that they don't bend and cause the cable to sag under the weight of the hop vines.

My concern is that I am worried about the cyclone fence that runs along and worried about the vines getting caught up in that, etc. It is not a huge issue, but just wondering if this is something I should avoid.

An option is to run some L brackets out from the top of the poles to get the overhead wire away from the cyclone fence.

My questions are these:
-Do you see any major issues with the above?
-Is it worth designing so that each hop vine can be let down one at a time, due to finishing at different times / different season lengths?
-Should I consider running other lines besides just straight up and down?

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give.

Cheers,
Idzy

 

[hoppy2B]

Put simply, the more strings you run for your hops to climb the higher should be your yield. However, with that in mind it is important to have space between each string to allow for light around the bines.

Its good to be able to lower the strings for harvest, not only to allow for multiple harvests but also to eliminate the need to climb ladders and risk falling.

Design is pretty much up to you. There are many threads in the hops section where people have put up pics of their trellis design. As you have stated also, your hops could climb the tennis court fence. You may find that useful.

Cheers, and good luck with growing them.

 

[idzy]

Thanks for the heads up hoppy2B, exactly the info I was after. Much appreciated.

 

[flano]

From my limited experience ( this year ) the lines that go side ways don't seem to work anywhere near as well as straight up ones.
I went to potters brewery in the hunter and they had hops vines growing up the side of the tennis court fence - they didn't seem to have a problem.

Also I have found that the actual hops are a bit like tomatoes in that some a ready before others....so it is almost a case of picking a few at a time.

just my observations so far.

 

[idzy]

Thanks Flano. I hadn't thought of just growing them against the fence. That would make life a hell of a lot easier.

 

[Pogierob]

Thanks Flano. I hadn't thought of just growing them against the fence. That would make life a hell of a lot easier.

Until harvest time, and then when the bine dies off over the winter you will have dead bines all through your fence.

 

[flano]

yep they'd love that tennis court fence .

It would be a bitch to cut off I'd imagine.

 

[hoppy2B]

Will the court be used for tennnis? Tennis balls will damage the growing bines.

You probably won't get as many cones from the bines growing on the mesh as you will from those growing on well spaced strings. Its ok if your strings are on a slight angle but its better the more vertical they are. Some people have done ok with horizontal strings just winding the hops along the string by hand as they grow.

 

[HBHB]

I had a bunch of simple 1.5mtr T cross section at the top of a 6m high (2 piece) 1" box section this year. Each T piece has 5 chain links as a loop welded on for the baling twine to go through. Each individual string can then be tied up to the fence and lowered for harvest or major blows as needed.

Each pole is into a steel pipe concreted into the ground so they can be disassembled for winter.

Martin